What is the period of comet Temple-Tuttle, and when will it be near the Earth? How is this comet related to the Leonid meteor shower?

Hello Tony,
I checked Guy Ottewell's Astronomical Almanac and
found that Comet Tempel-Tuttle has an orbital
period of 33.22 years. It will reach perihelion
on Feb 28, 1998.
As comets travel in their orbits they outgas and
as the ices vaporize a trail of "crumbs" fall off -
debris from the comet. When the earth passes through
this trail of debris we experience a meteor shower
as the debris plunges through our atmosphere.
The meteor showers are generally named for the
constellation that they appear to coincide with -
of course, there is no true spatial connection,
only an apparent one. Comet Tempel-Tuttle has
been associated with the Leonid meteor showers
in November.
There's a lot more information on the web - I just
typed "Tempel-Tuttle" into the alta vista search
engine and several good links came up.

With Regards,
Debra Fischer

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